Celebrate Opportunity for Working Americans on EITC Awareness Day

Today we’re celebrating. We’re celebrating a proven tool that helps millions of workers across the United States keep more of what they earn to pay for things like reliable transportation to get to work, child care, housing and food. We’re celebrating that Congress took action at the end of 2015 to save this resource. We’re tipping our hat to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and what it means to working families in America.

Research finds that the EITC encourages work, supports family financial stability and leads to long-term gains in child health and academic success.

Beyond the data, we see the power of the credit firsthand because each year hundreds of United Ways across the country and tens of thousands of volunteers take action to connect millions of people to the EITC through Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites and www.MyFreeTaxes.com, where individuals or families earning $62,000 or less can file their state and local taxes online for free. For example, Emily from Salt Lake City shares:

Receiving the Earned Income Tax Credit was a huge blessing. It made the difference that kept our family from becoming homeless. Since then, I have finished school and my husband found a new job. My family is doing better now, thanks in part to the EITC.

That’s why we’re especially thankful that Congress took action at the end of 2015 to keep the EITC and the Child Tax Credit whole for millions of working Americans. Without Congressional action, 50 million Americans would have lost all or part of the credits which would have had ripple impacts on family financial stability, and child health and academic success. Further, 16 million Americans would have fallen into poverty or toppled in even deeper.

So this #EITCAwarenessDay, celebrate with us. Take a moment to thank Congress for standing up for working families, check out MyFreeTaxes.com as a place you and your community can connect to the EITC, and spread the good word online (#EITCAwarenessDay, @MyFreeTaxes). Cheers!